It is common for an operator or owner of machinery, equipment, or commercial vehicles, and the like, including organizations and individuals, to have lubricant analysis performed on their machinery, equipment, and vehicles. Typically, lubricant analysis checks oil samples from the equipment, machinery and vehicles for foreign particles, such as wear particles, contaminants, and oil additives. Also, screening processes are used to check for white metal, babbitt, precipitate, silt, debris, and dirt. Such lubricant analysis can indicate many significant factors about machinery, equipment, and vehicles. Accordingly, such feedback about lubrication is vital to a proper and complete maintenance program, and is paramount to the ongoing operation of machinery, equipment, and vehicles, and leads to reduced breakdowns and increased mechanical longevity.
Typically, such an operator or owner is a client of an oil analysis company, and sends regular lubricant samples taken from the machinery, equipment, and vehicles, to a certified laboratory that conducts various types of tests on the lubricants. The laboratory might be part of the oil analysis company or might be an independent laboratory. Typically, a few days after the samples are shipped for analysis, the client would typically receive from the oil analysis company a written report setting forth and explaining the results of the tests.
In the event that a client has several locations, the lubricant samples may be sent to one specific laboratory, which may be undesirable due to the distances that lubricant samples might have to be shipped, especially if the client has operations in more than one country. Alternatively, the lubricant samples could be sent to local laboratories. However, this is undesirable since, in the industry, there is a lack of proper standardization of tests or test results.
Also, each location of a client's operation would most likely not be aware of the results of lubricants tests performed at other locations. This information is therefore typically not shared between various locations of a client's company.
Further, it is almost certainly not shared between companies, and also generally is not forwarded to lubricant suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, industry consultants, and so on. The client is only able to share in the knowledge and experience of the one oil analysis company, but has little opportunity to share in the knowledge and experience of the lubricant community in general. This lack of sharing of information extends beyond basic lubricant analysis data, since lubricant analysis data is also used to determine various characteristics of machinery, equipment, vehicles, and the like, and also suitability of lubricants, and so on.
The above discussed problems are largely due to the lack of cooperation within the industry, as a result of the normal level of competition that exists between companies. However, another even more significant reason for these problems has recently become apparent. There is a general lack of integrated information systems within the industry, or in other words, there is a lack of a common platform available to oil analysis companies and their clients, and to the industry in general. Most oil analysis companies offer their own version of a client-based oil analysis software package. However, these client-based software packages offer varying levels of functionality ranging from the ability to view oil analysis data and reports, to software packages that allow the client to fully manage their oil analysis program. Alternatively, a client can use a cumbersome oil analysis software package purchased at considerable expense from a software provider. Although the client can use several laboratories to perform oil analysis, the software is designed to view oil analysis data, and is not designed to be compatible with an oil analysis company's software. Accordingly, the system only accepts basic oil analysis data, which may be insufficient. Further, there is no way for the client to send data back to the oil analysis company.
Even more specifically, there is a lack of industry standards for data exchange, which completely precludes test results and other data from being readily exchanged. For instance, in the oil analysis industry, each one of over 250 commercial laboratories and 2000 private laboratories in North America operates its own Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). Each of the above discussed software packages uses a proprietary format for the exchange of data between the oil analysis LIMS and the client software, thus virtually ensuring that test results and other data cannot be readily exchanged, thus keeping interaction between the client and laboratory essentially insular.
For these reasons, only a small percentage of clients actually use a client software package.
Furthermore, a client might need to switch from their present lubricant analysis laboratory to another lubricant analysis laboratory. At best, the client is faced with fragmentation of data, and possibly a complete loss of oil analysis data, which is completely unacceptable
The lack of sharing of lubricant related information also lessens the effectiveness of maintenance programs, especially within larger companies. Typically, for each location owned by a client, the maintenance data is stored in a separate system, generally with no way to collaborate data from any two systems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, wherein there are lubricant standardized tests performed in a laboratory.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, wherein the lubricant test result information can be shared between various locations of a client's company.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, wherein lubricant analysis data is shared between clients, lubricant suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, industry consultants, and so on.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, wherein lubricant analysis data is used to determine various characteristics of machinery, equipment, vehicles, and the like.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, which evaluation and reporting system provides a common platform available to oil analysis companies and their clients, and to the industry in general.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, wherein common industry standards for data exchange are used
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, wherein clients can readily switch from one laboratory to another without loss of lubricant analysis data and use thereof.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an Internet-based lubricant evaluation and reporting system, which lubricant evaluation and reporting system is used to enhance the effectiveness of a maintenance program of machinery, equipment, vehicles, and the like.